Onboarding new employees: how TomTom and Wortell do it

Onboarding new employees

If you want to know more about onboarding new employees, you’ve come to the right place. At Pluvo, we are big fans of the onboarding process. It leads to happier employees, lower turnover, and faster productivity! But what exactly does onboarding mean?

Onboarding means getting your new employees up to speed. This doesn't just mean ensuring they are productive; it also means making them feel at home within your organization!

You don't need to reinvent the wheel to implement an onboarding program. We interviewed representatives from TomTom and Wortell to learn about their onboarding process. Read on and get inspired by these success stories!

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Onboarding a new employee? This is how they do it at Wortell!

Wortell was named Employer of the Year in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019. And for good reason! This title is partly due to their excellent onboarding program for new hires. We spoke about this with Sara Piets, Corporate Recruiter for IT at Wortell.

Preboarding

You can't start onboarding too early. That’s why at Wortell, they don't just do onboarding—they also do preboarding! This starts even before someone has signed their contract.

“Preboarding is the period between signing the employment contract and the actual start date at the company”

Once someone has signed the contract, the candidate immediately receives a well-stocked welcome package, consisting of gifts and information about Wortell. It makes for a warm welcome. A little later, it’s time for the "Wortell Car Wash."

The first week

The Wortell Car Wash is the introductory week for new employees. The new employees receive information about all the teams and get to know the organization. In addition, they learn practical things, such as how to log their hours.

Furthermore, Wortell holds a monthly Company Day where all teams come together. On this day, topics such as current challenges or new technical innovations are discussed. The day concludes with drinks, where new colleagues present a project they were assigned as a team. It’s an original way for the rest of the organization to get to know the new hires.

“Thanks to this pre- and onboarding, employees become productive sooner. Moreover, almost every new colleague says they feel at home in the company because of the onboarding!”

An extra tip from Sara: try to answer the questions of candidates and employees before they are even asked. Be a proactive recruiter instead of a reactive one!

Use Pluvo for the digital part of your pre- and onboarding. Schedule a call and see how easy it is!

Need to onboard a new colleague but don't know how? TomTom will show you the way ;-)

TomTom—who doesn't know the company as the ultimate replacement for road maps? Thanks to TomTom, you never ended up at the wrong destination because you accidentally held the map upside down.

But the classic TomTom isn't their only product. TomTom also licenses maps and creates navigation software. And did you know that TomTom is also huge in the field of fleet software? It allows you to track vehicles and communicate with drivers. They do all this (and much more) worldwide for a great many clients.

TomTom employs a lot of people for this, and that number keeps growing. Fortunately, the company does not forget how important it is to onboard new employees well, both online and offline. We spoke about this with Brogan Brown, Senior Project Coordinator HR at TomTom. 

The first week

On the first day, the Induction Day, the new hires first get a presentation from a founder or senior leader. They learn about TomTom’s history and culture and about all the different brands TomTom owns. Then their knowledge of TomTom  is tested right away with the TomTom quiz. 

After lunch, there is a kind of job fair, but with TomTom’s various departments. Each stand represents a different department, and at the booth you can chat with a colleague from that department. That way, you quickly get to know the company and the people behind it! 

After all, new colleagues do not have to feel lonely during the onboarding period. They are paired with a buddy they can always turn to with work-related questions. It does not matter whether they are questions about the job itself or about how the fridge is organized.

At the end of the first work week, there is a toast over drinks. Welcome on board! But, of course, the onboarding is not over after this week...

Day Thirty

On day thirty of the onboarding program, there is an evaluation moment. Because:

• How is the onboarding going, and what does the new employee think of it?

• What impression does the new colleague have of TomTom?

That way, the HR manager or supervisor can immediately address any doubts or remove certain pain points. By the way, new hires receive new information about TomTom every week. After 90 days, everyone is officially onboarded! 

Looking for a smart way to keep teaching your new employees a little more throughout these 90 days? Read about the possibilities of microlearning!

What are the results?

This onboarding program drew many positive reactions from new colleagues. So this way of onboarding is paying off. New colleagues say they feel at home sooner and also know much more about TomTom than before.

“Many colleagues say they have never had such a pleasant onboarding period,” said Brogan.

In the coming period, the HR department will look at how they can also use this onboarding program at other locations.

Onboarding checklist

Brogan has a few tips for companies that want to take onboarding new employees more seriously:

1. Make sure new colleagues are engaged and enthusiastic before they have even set foot in the company. It is really nice to get a feel in advance for what kind of great company you are going to work for. Preboarding, that is! 
2. Make sure managers also invest time in onboarding. It is essential that they realize how important onboarding is. The little things really make the difference. Think of giving new hires a warm welcome. Or setting up someone’s new workspace in a nice, inviting way.
3. Make sure the first day is a good one! Make it interactive and do not cram it full of presentations. Make it something the new colleagues will remember. It is also good to celebrate the first week or first month of new colleagues. Arrange some drinks or a nice lunch for the group and let them catch up on their first experiences at the company. 

Curious how bol.com, for example, handles its onboarding? Then also read: Onboarding program example! 

Onboarding new employees yourself?

As you can read above, onboarding offers significant benefits for large companies. But for smaller businesses, too, onboarding has a positive impact on job satisfaction, turnaround time, and productivity.

Ready to get started with onboarding? It is helpful to use an LMS that is well-suited for HR-related tasks. For example, you can start your digital onboarding in Pluvo! Schedule a call and get started!